Cellulosic product



Sept. 4, 1956 J. c. BLETZINGER CELLULOSIC PRODUCT Filed Dec. 1'7, 1954 mmvrox. ubfivz 655/922 United States Patent 1 2,761,449 CELLULOSHZ PRODUCT John C. Bletzinger, Neenah, Wis, assignor, by mesne assignments, to Kimberly-Clark Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Application December 17, 1954, Serial No. 475,910

13 Claims. (U. 128-285) This invention relates to a cellulosic product and more particularly to a vaginal tampon. Catamenial tampons are probably the most common example of the product. Vaginal tampons have heretofore been commonly made of cotton fibers, sometimes including a blend or mixture of various grades or types of cotton fibers, a selected quantity of the selected fiber stock being compressed into a body of a size which may be easily inserted into the vaginal cavity. catamenial tampons are usually made in an elongated cylindrical form in order that they may have a sufiiciently large body of material to provide the required absorbing capacity. However, vaginal tampons may be made in other shapes.

Vaginal tampons give the most satisfactory service when they are so made that upon being wetted when in place, they will expand into conforming engagement with the walls of the cavity. It may be observed that expansion of the tampon in the vaginal cavity is subject to restriction by the walls of the cavity and that these walls are probably pushed out to some extent by the expansion of the tampon whereby conforming or sealing engagement occurs between the tampon and the vaginal walls. Expansion of a compressed tampon body also serves to increase its absorbing capacity, this being highly important in a catamenial tampon. The tampon must expand, and remain expanded, against the restricting force of the vaginal walls and it is important that the tampon have the property of expanding into said conforming engagement and also of opening up the fiber arrangement to increase the capacity of the tampon to absorb liquid. To that end, it is desirable that the fibers in the compressed body, or at least a sufiicient proportion thereof, be of a resilient or springy character, even when wetted, to effect the desired expansion of the tampon.

In addition to the indicated functional attributes of the tampon, it should also preferably be made of fibrous or other material which is non-irritating, and the material should also be relatively low in cost in order that the sale, and use of vaginal tampons, especially 'of catamenial tampons, may be highly practicable from an economic viewpoint.

Most compressed vaginal tampons heretofore available have been characterized by their use of fiber stock containing fibers of relatively long length and some resiliency in an effort to obtain the required properties. The use of long fiber stock has been considered necessary in order to obtain integration of the mass of fibers into a body in which they are adequately anchored against separation or sloughing ofi, as for example, when the tampon is withdrawn from the vaginal cavity. The indicated long fiber stock is an item of substantial cost in the production of tampons of the character indicated.

When the tampons are made with long fiber material, the fibers tend to become intertwined and thereby anchored to one another, but for tampon purposes, such anchoring of the fibers is hardly sufiicient. In some instances, the fibers in tampon bodies have been additionally anchored by one or more lines of stitching running through the body of fibers, usually with the fibers extending predominantly crosswise of the line or lines of stitching, and the stitching sometimes being extended beyond an end of the fiber body to provide a draw string. Another arrangement for anchoring the fibers in a body is to provide an elongated body of fibers in which the 2,761,449 Patented Sept. 4, 1956 fibers are fairly long and extend predominantly length- Wise of the body. A draw string element is looped around such a fiber body intermediate its ends and the body doubled on itself at the string loop so that the string extends from one end of the body to constitute a draw string while also serving the indicated purpose of holding fibers together. These constructions are not suited to the use of relatively inexpensive short fibers which would not be adequately anchored in the tampon bodies by the described anchoring means.

Another practice has been to enclose the tampon body before it is compressed, in a textile jacket, of woven or knitted material for example, and to compress the jacketed body to the desired smaller size. The jacket will permit the body to reexpand toward its original uncompressed jacketed size and the jacket functions to prevent short fibers from being separated from the tampons body. This construction could be used for containing a tampon body having a proportion of very short fibers, but even then the jacket should embody a facing which will prevent the very short fibers from passing through the interstices of the textile material. Instead of a facing on the jacket, a crepe tissue paper covering which will retain the fiber may be used.

The present invention has for its main object the provision of a compressed tampon which, when wetted in the vaginal cavity, will quickly expand into conforming engagement with the walls of the cavity so as to provide sealing engagement with such walls but which will still be comfortable to the wearer; to provide a compressed tampon which will exhibit a capacity for absorbing a large volume of liquid; to provide a tampon in which absorbent, low cost, short fiber stock may be employed to form a substantial proportion of the fiber body and in which such short fiber will be effectively retained against separation from the body in the normally compressed state thereof, in its wetted and expanded condition, and when it is withdrawn from the vaginal cavity; to provide a tampon of the character indicated which, although embodying a substantial proportion of short length fibers of negligible resiliency Will nevertheless be characterized by a degree of resiliency entirely adequate to effect, when; the body is wetted, said quick expansion from its com-- pressed condition to enlarged, vaginal sealing condition; to provide a tampon with a resiliency characteristic which;

will not be lost by wetting of the tampon or by extended subjection of the tampon to moisture and body heat, but: will remain effective and serve to resist or prevent squeezing and permanent collapsing of the tampon in the vaginal cavity due to various muscular and body movements; and to provide a tampon having the indicated resiliency characteristic but which may nevertheless be easily compressed to the desired small size and which under normal conditions of manufacture, storage, transportation and other handling, will retain its compressed condition.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be understood by reference to the following specification and the accompanying drawing wherein there are illustrated two catamenial tampon constructions embodying selected forms of the invention.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective illustration of the main absorbent body element of a catamenial tampon in a primary stage of fabrication of the tampon;

Fig. 2 is a perspective illustration of the tampon body provided with a jacket and a draw string before compression of the tampon;

Fig. 3 is a perspective illustration of a compressed tampon made from the jacketed body represented in Figure 2; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective illustration of a type of tampon 3 body according to the present invention for making a compressed tampon Without an enclosing jacket.

One example of a tampon according to the present invention, comprises an absorbent body 3 (Figure 1) of fibrous material. This body may initially be substantially rectangular in shape as illustrated and may be separated by any suitable means from the end of a supply web or body or" the selected fibrous material. The supply of fibrous material may comprise any suitably formed bat of fibers, a plurality of superposed fiber layers or om wise, or of any desired combination of these, and i include sheets of creped tissue paper wadding. The rectangular shape of the body 1 is not essential but is representative of a form which may conveniently be cut from a web of supply material.

The body 1 of fibers is in v character and for the purpose of this invention coinprises a mixture or blend of fibers, some of which are selected because of certain of their properties, for example resiliency, and others of which are selected for other properties, for example absorbency, whereby certain unexpected properties and benefits will be obtained from the body. The various types of fibers may be blended together to form a web or body of the desired fiber stock from which tampon bodies may be separated. This may be accomplished by simultaneously delivering superposed bats or webs of the difierent types of fibers to a carding machine, garnett, air layer, or other apparatus whereby the fibers are more or less individually separated from the supply bats or webs and simultaneously delivered into a single web wherein the different kinds of fibers will be quite thoroughly intermixed with each other. The difierent types of fibers may also be preblended by any suitable mechanism and the blend fed to a carding machine, garnett, air layer or other apparatus for forming the fiber into a suitable hat or lap of the desired blend or mixture of fibers.

The uncompressed body 1, if it is to have a jacket, may then have a suitable jacket applied thereto; for example, as partially represented in Figure l, a jacket 2 of gauze or similar or other highly pervious material of suitable tensile strength and fiber retaining properties may be wrapped transversely around the fiber body. The overlapped margins of the wrapper are preferably sealed together. The jacket is made somewhat longer than the fiber body and t.e ends the jacket are suitably treated to cause them to conform to the ends of the fiber body. In one arrangement, said end portions of the jacket may be folded toward the center of the respective ends of the fiber body and tucked thereinto as indicated at 3 in Figure 2. A draw string 4 may be anchored to one end of the body in any suitable manner, preferably after the jacket is applied.

When the fiber body 1 is made with a substantial proportion of very short fibers, the jacket 2 should be appropriately selected to prevent separation of such short fibers from the tampon body. To that end the gauze jacket 2 may be provided with a facing of fibrous material at tached to either the inside or the outside of the jacket or it may be supplemented with a wrapper 5 (Figure l) of highly liquid pervious creped tissue paper wadding, fiber sheeting, or the like which is of sufficiently close formation to effectively retain the short fiber content of the tampon body. The details of the jacket construction are not a part of the present invention and the foregoing explanation thereof is merely representative of general characteristics of a jacket.

The jacketed body With a draw string, is compressed to a suitably reduced size as indicated in Figure 3, the size of the compressed body 2 being such that the compressed body may be easily inserted into the vaginal cavity. The compression of the tampon body is such that the body will remain in its compressed condition under ordinary conditions of manufacture, storage, transportagood absorbing capacity.

K! and is compressed to the illustrated approxima c lindrical form of Figure 3 measuring about i 7 th and /2 in diameter. These sizes are cspec y for a catarneniai tampon, but may be ".irieo' sonable limits to form tampons of difcrent aoso sing capacities.

When the .tmpon body r ade of fiber stock Wherein the fibers ion mough to be self-retentive in a body without t, the construction may be as repr '..rein the elongated body 3 is fibers extending transversely of and secured together by means 0 one of i may also be compressed to the desired stable, reduced size substantially as shown P e 3, from which the body will and upon wetted.

R xpansion of the tan". body occurs Within the vaginal cavity so t limit of expansion is affected, at least in p" the size of th vaginal to person. hence, it important to incorporate tampon body sufficient resiliency or expanding to insure that it ll expand against the constricting effect of the walls of the vagina to provide an adequate absorbing capacity, and into sealing contact with the walls of a relatively large cavity while at the same time avoiding the incorporatof such extreme expansive force that uncomfortable pressures will be created in a smaller cavity.

In a tampon, contact of the tampon with the Walls of the cavity is usually import at, and when the tampon is a catarnenial tampon such contact should be such as to insure r to prevent the flow of the menstrual exudate along the walls of the cavity past the tampon, and it is important that the tampon have n adequate ca acity for absorbing and holding the menstrual exudate. i ence, for catarnenial purposes, the tampon body preferably comprises a proportion of fibers which are n' hiy absorbent and a proportion of fibers which are resilient, the latter being resilient even in the presence 0 catamenial tampon proportion of the fiber body consist of fibers may be long or found that the use of very short hers '55 of an inch in length and less, Cvjilibil-BS to me attainment of This ears to be due to the e also fib rs, sa f.

fact that the man short fibers -53 tions in which cap a fibers, and a to the ing multiplicity of other or with other s2: additional fluid holding that such fiber ends usually at as of the fibers to form and also to the fact e more or less frayed or feathery which further contributes to the formation of fluid holding spaces or capillaries.

The absorbent capacity or" sh rt absorbent fibers is highly desirable but such fibers, tend to become so firmly bonded together when compressed in a body that the body will not espand to provide the desired absorbent capacity when Wetted, or it may be that such short fibers tend to mat together when wetted so that some of the inherent absorbing capacity of a body of such fibers cavity which :ention of the tampon in the cavity and The absorbent will be lost. Such fibers have but little if any useful resiliency when dry and upon being wetted generally lose most of the resiliency they may have had, wherefore a body thereof will not expand satisfactorily when wetted and under the pressures encountered in the vaginal cavity.

A body of fibers may have an absorbent capacity even though the individual fibers are normally considered nonabsorptive; this follows from the fact that the grouped fibers form capillary spaces or interstices between them which will pick up and hold liquid. Hence, it is not essential that absorbent fibers be used to obtain absorbent capacity in the tampon body, but larger capacities can be obtained when the fibers are absorbent.

For imparting absorption capacity to the body, relatively low cost, short fibered cotton or other cellulose fibers may be used. For example, cotton linters are available on the market at low cost as compared with other cotton, such linters consisting of fibers seldom exceeding of an inch in length and ranging down to such short lengths that the individual pieces are as short as /g of an inch. This short fiber is highly desirable in a tampon because of the high capacity for absorption which they produce. When wetted, they have no significant degree of resiliency but tend to stay matted to gether. For this reason, such short fiber stock has not heretofore been considered satisfactory for use in a tampon. I have found, however, that these highly absorbent short fibers may be satisfactory and advantageously employed in a tampon body when they have associated with them, other fibers which exhibit pronounced springiness or resiliency even when Wetted, such resilient fibers being reasonably uniformly distributed throughout the body to provide a body having in all portions thereof, fairly uniform characteritsics of compressibility, expansibility, absorbency, and permanent integration.

Non-absorbent artificial or synthetic fibers, such as nylon, Saran, and Dacron for example, when of high enough denier, are resilient in character and retain a high degree of resiliency when wetted, such retained degree of resiliency being useful for the purposes of this invention, particularly when the fibers are of longer lengths, for example, of an inch and more. Absorbent synthetic and other fibers which lose more of their resiliency when wetted may nevertheless be used for the purpose of this invention if selected of the proper weight or denier, and length, to afford sufiicient resiliency when wetted.

In general, it appears that a tampon body according to this invention may comprise about 3 to 20 percent (by weight) non-absorbent, synthetic, resilient fibers having lengths in the range of about inch to about 2%. inches and a denier within the range of about 3 to 20, the remainder of the body comprising absorbent fibers such as cotton linters, or bleached absorbent wood pulp fibers sometimes known as flufi, or both of said materials, the lengths of which fibers are generally less than 7 inch. The flufi mentioned may be typified by loose or separated fibers obtained from chemical type pulps, and especially bleached alpha sulphite and sulphate pulps made from wood such as spruce, balsam and other woods from coniferous trees. Chemical wood pulp fiber of these types usually has an average length of about .18 inch and are of lengths in the range of about .003 inch to .36 inch. If the resilient fiber component is made of absorbent fibers, they may constitute up to about 60 percent of the weight of the body, but the denier of the fibers should be somewhat higher than for non-absorbent resilient fibers.

The quantity of resilient fibers depends to a considerable extent upon the nature of the fibers used. Excessive amounts of synthetic resilient fibers tend to prevent compression of the tampon body to the desired stable condition. This may be because the springy, moisture resistant fibers of nylon, Saran, and other materials, do not readily become pressure bonded incident to the compression of the product; accordingly the added forces of excess resilient fibers would not be restrained by the bonded fibers. Absorbent synthetic fibers also tend toresist bonding together under pressure, but to a lesser degree than the non-absorbent fibers, wherefore, a higher proportion of resilient absorbent fibers may be used. From this it will be apparent that the percentage of resilient fibers may vary within the ranges indicated, the variation being dependent largely upon the kind of resilient fiber employed and also its denier. When the resilient fibers are absorbent, somewhat higher spring loading may be employed since these fibers bond to each other and also to the shorter fibers to cooperate with the bonds between the shorter fibers, to restrain the dry tampon against expansion. It may be observed that fiber to fiber bonding by compression requires the presence of at least a slight amount of moisture wherefore non-absorbent fibers do not readily bond to each other. Hence, reference herein to dry tampons or fibers does not exclude the presence of moisture in such amounts, for example 10 percent of the weight of the fiber body, which are normally present in a fiber body which is commonly considered to be dry.

Absorption tests made with various mixtures or blends of fibers show that fiber bodies comprising blends of resilient synthetic fibers and short length absorbent fibers can be formed to absorb and hold larger quantities of water than a body of only absorbent fibers, the fiber bodies being of like weight. The following schedule shows representative results obtained by absorbency tests in which expansion of the tampon was carefully controlled:

Percent Grams Kind and Percent- Water Syn. Fiber India B. Cot. Absorbed Find 0. GComtb Lin.

None Nylon5 (8 to 15 Den. mixed). Nylon10 (8 to 15 Den. mixed) Rayon-50 (8 Den.) 0rlon"-20 (3 Den.) N n Rayon-40 (8 Den.) Rayo1]1)40 (20% 8 Den., 20%

5.5 en.). Rayon100 (60% 1 Dan, 40%

8 Den.).

All tests referred to in the above schedule were made with tampons of approximately like weights of fiber (approx. 2.80 grams) compressed to diameters in the range of about %2" to about %2.

One satisfactory product comprised an absorbent body having about 10 percent Saran fibers about 1 /2 inch long and a denier of about 3, 20 percent India cotton, and 70 percent cotton linters. In this product, both the Saran fibers and the India cotton contribute a resiliency factor, and both the cotton linters and the India cotton, together comprising percent of the body, contribute absorbent capacity.

Another satisfactory example, of a tampon according to this invention comprises about 10 percent of nylon fiber (commercially identified as No. 7 fiberstock cut and crimped), the nylon fibers being about 1 inch long and having a denier of from 8 to 15 (mixed), 50 percent of alpha Wood fluff, and 40 percent cotton fibers commercially known as B. Comber Cotton which has an average fiber length of about of an inch and a length range from about 5 of an inch to about 1 inch with about 50 percent of the fibers being in the upper portion of said range. The long nylon fibers and the longer cotton fibers in this blend or mixture serve to anchor the shorter fibers together into an integrated body and the nylon fibers provide a resiliency factor which is effective to cause the tampon body to expand when wetted into sealing conforrnity with the walls of the vaginal cavity, such expansion being effected without producing objectionable pressure on the vaginal walls. However, slight pressure is desirable in order that the tampon be effectively held in place and the resiliency of the nylon fibers in the described example is effective to provide such pressure. Because of the presence of the very short wood fluff fibers, this tampon is preferably enclosed in a jacket having suitable fiber confining properties.

Another satisfactory product can be made with a blend or mixture of about 69 percent of Comber Cotton and about 40 percent of viscose rayon fibers, the rayon fiber having a length of from 1% to 2 inches and a denier within the range of 5 /2 to 8, although acceptable results are attainable with such fibers as short as A of an inch and a denier within the range of 4 to 20. Such rayon fibers being absorbent but nevertheless exhibiting sufificient resiliency when wetted to provide the desired expansive force in the tampon body. The relatively small proportion of fibers less than inch long in this example, make it feasible to produce this example Without a confining jacket.

Viscose rayon, while having a satisfactory degree of resiliency within the range of denier above stated, also provides very satisfactory absorbent capacity and cooperates with cotton fibers to provide not only a large absorbing capacity but also the capacity for absorbing fluid at a very high rate of speed. Nylon and Saran are less absorbent, nylon being slightly better than Saran in this respect, but these materials, used in :the small volumes required, do not materially reduce the potential absorbing capacity of the absorbent body while providing the desired resiliency and expansibility therein which serves to increase the total eilective absorbing capacity.

Other satisfactory examples, are indicated in the foregoing schedule. However, it should be observed that the example formed of 75 per cent fluff and 25 per cent B Comber Cotton, neither of which is considered a resilient fiber for the pinpose of this invention, shows poor expansibility and absorbency.

Compressed tampons according to this invention and embodying fiber components as described, exhibit the very desirable characteristic of being self-sustaining or very stable in compressed condition but capable of very quick release and rapid expansion when wetted. This condition prevails thrughout a considerable range of compressing pressure. The size of the uncompressed body may be varied considerably in both directions, i. e., to both larger and smaller sizes while retaining the quick release, rapid expansion attribute. The exact reason for this is perhaps not wholly understood, but it may occur because the fibers in the absorbent body (both natural and a iai fibers or filaments) are initially in a more orless crinkled, curled, or other irregular springy condition and when the body is con pressed, said fibers are more or less lded back and forth upon themselves and caused to interlock with one another. Resilient synthetic of kinds herein mentioned, some in crimped, curled, twisted or other spring form are commerciaily ave rableand such fibers when in the form described in stry "cr mp set or crimped are especially satisfactory for imparting resiliency or expansibility to the tampon. The shorter fibers and those which do have more or less permanent inherent resilient qualities, lose most of their resiliency when wetted so that he folded and crinkled portions thereof readily yield to the expansion forces provided by the resilient fiber component. Also some of the fiber locking er'lect in the compressed tampon is probably due to the presence of small horn-like projections on some of the fiber especially on the cotton and other natural fibers, which also lose their stillness who wetted and hence release other fibers which are caught or locked around such horns.

By employing synthetic fibers for providing a resilient factor which tends to rcexpand the tampon from its compressed condition it is possible to predetermine the expansive force built into the compressed body reasonably accurately according to a predetermined specification. The resiliency and other characteristics of synthetic fibers of given kind, denier, and length, is substantially constant. The resiliency of cotton or other natural fibers varies considerably. Conditions under which the natural fibers are grown vary from place to place and from time to time so that even cotton fiber produced in the same geographical area may vary substantially from crop to rop if not also within each crop. The rayon or other synthetic fibers may, of course, be selected to provide any desired degree of expansive force and other characteristics, and such fibers of a given specification, are substantially constant in their various characteristics including among others, wettability, absorbency and resilici y. one the use of synthetic fibers as a component of the absorbent body facilitates the building in of selected resiliency, absorbency and other characteristics to a reasonably accurate and constant degree.

Tampons made according to this invention may be associated with any desired type of applicator or inserter.

The principles of the described invention may be practiced with fibers other than those specifically mentioned herein, the important thing being that they be selected for their resilient capacities or their fluid absorbing capacities, 'nd combined in any suitable manner into a unitary or I egrated body which, when compr ssed, will be stable in its compressed, normally dry condition, but expansible under the influence of the resilient fiber component when the locking effect incident to the compression is released by wetting.

The described components and the respective factors may be incorporated in tampon bodies of various types and sizes and embodying any suitable constructional entails.

I claim:

l. A vag nal tampon comprising an absorbent body of fibrous material which is compressed to a small size for facilitating insertion of the tampon into the vaginal cavity, said body being stable in compressed, normally dry condition, and when wetted in such cavity, being self-expanding into conforming engagement with the walls of the cavity, said absorbent body having a selected proportion of fibers which are of substantially greater resiliency when wetted than the other fibers when wetted and being present in such an amount that the resiliency thereof is effective to expand the body as aforesaid when wetted.

2. A Vaginal tampon comprising an absorbent body of fibrous material which is compressed to a small size for facilitating insertion of the tampon into the vaginal cavity, said bodybeing stable in compressed, normally dry condition, and when wetted in such cavity, being self-expanding into conforming engagement with the walls of the cavity, said absorbent body having a selected proportion of fibers of short lengths which provide a multiplicity of fluid receiving and holding interstices, and a selected proportion of long fibers which are permanently resilient under conditions normally encountered by the tampon, said long resilient fibers being operative to effect expansion of said body when wetted and shifting of said shorter fibers relative to each other to increase the sizes of said interstices, thereby to enlarge the absorbing capacity of the tampon.

3. A vaginal tampon comprising an absorbent body of fibrous material which is compressed to a small size for facilitating insertion of the tampon into the vaginal cavity, said body being stable in compressed, normally dry condition, and when wetted in such cavity, being self-expanding into conforming engagement with the walls of the cavity, said absorbent body having a selected proportion of fibers of lengths of generally less than of an inch which provide a multiplicity of fluid receiving and holding interstices, and a selected proportion of long fibers which are permanently resilient under all circum- 9 stances normally encountered by the tampon, said long resilient fibers being operative to efiect expansion of said body when wetted and shifting of said shorter fibers relative to each other to increase the sizes of said interstices, thereby to enlarge the absorbing capacity of the tampon.

4. A vaginal tampon comprising an absorbent body of fibrous material which is compressed to a small size for facilitating insertion of the tampon into the vaginal cavity, said body being stable in compressed, normally dry condition, and when wetted in such cavity, being self-expanding into conforming engagement with the walls of the cavity, said absorbent body having a selected proportion of fibers of lengths of generally less than 7f of an inch which provide a multiplicity of fluid receiving and holding interstices, and a selected proportion of long fibers which are permanently resilient under all circumstances normally encountered by the tampon, said long resilient fibers being operative to effect expansion of said body when wetted and shifting of said shorter fibers relative to each other to increase the sizes of said interstices, thereby to enlarge the absorbing capacity of the tampon, and a jacket enclosing said body of fibrous material to prevent separation of said shorter fibers from the body.

5. A vaginal tampon comprising an absorbent body of fibrous material which is compressed to a small size for facilitating insertion of the tampon into the vaginal cavity, said body being stable in compressed, normally dry condition, and when wetted in such cavity, being self-expanding into conforming engagement with the walls of the cavity, said absorbent body having a selected proportion of fibers which are of greater length than another proportion of the fibers in said body, said selected proportion also being of substantially greater resiliency when wetted than the other fibers when wetted and being present in such an amount that the resiliency thereof is efiective to expand the body as aforesaid when wetted, the short fiber component constituting at least 40 percent of the weight of the body and comprising fibers generally less than of an inch long.

6. A vaginal tampon comprising an absorbent body of fibrous material which is compressed to a small size for facilitating insertion of the tampon into the vaginal cavity, said body being stable in compressed, normally dry condition, and when wetted in such cavity, being self-expanding into conforming engagement with the walls of the cavity, said absorbent body having a selected proportion of fibers of lengths generally less than 75 of an inch which provide a multiplicity of fluid receiving and holding interstices, and a selected proportion of fibers of a length generally in excess of of an inch and which are resilient in both dry and Wet condition, said resilient fibers being operative to effect expansion of said body when wetted and shifting of said shorter fibers relative to each other to increase the sizes of said interstices, thereby to enlarge the absorbing capacity of the tampon.

7. A vaginal tampon comprising an absorbent body of fibrous material which is compressed to a small size for facilitating insertion of the tampon into the vaginal cavity, said body being stable in compressed, normally dry condition, and when wetted in such cavity, being selfexpanding in the cavity, said absorbent body having from 3 percent to 20 percent of its Weight formed by nonabsorbent resilient fibers having lengths within the range of about A of an inch to 2/2 inches and of a denier within the range of about 3 to 20, and a major portion of the remainder of said body being formed of fibers having lengths generally less than A of an inch.

8. A vaginal tampon comprising an absorbent body of fibrous material which is compressed to a small size for facilitating insertion of the tampon into the vaginal cavity, said body being stable in compressed, normally dry condition, and when wetted in such cavity, being self-expanding in the cavity, said absorbent body having from 3 percent to 20 percent of its weight formed by non-absorbent resilient fibers having lengths within the range 10 of about A of an inch to 2 /2 inches and of 'a denier within the range of about 3 to 20, and a major portion of the remainder of said body being formed of absorbent fibers having lengths generally less than bi of an inch.

9. A vaginal tampon comprising an absorbent body of fibrous material which is compressed to a small size for facilitating insertion of the tampon into the vaginal cavity, said body being stable in compressed, normally dry condition, and when wetted in such cavity, being selfexpanding therein, said absorbent body having a selected proportion of fibers which are of substantially greater length than other of the fibers, said longer fibers being characterized also by substantially greater resiliency when wetted than said other fibers when wetted and being present in such an amount that resiliency thereof is effective to expand the body as aforesaid when wetted, the fibers of greater length and resiliency being absorbent and constituting from 3 to 60 percent of the weight of the body, and the major portion of the remainder of the body comprising fibers having lengths generally less than of an inch.

10. A vaginal tampon comprising an absorbent body of fibrous material which is compressed to a small size for facilitating insertion of the tampon into the vaginal cavity, said body being stable in compressed, normally dry condition, and when wetted in such cavity, being self expanding into conforming engagement with the walls of the cavity, said absorbent body having from about 40% to about 80% of cotton linters which provide a multiplicity of fiuid receiving and holding interstices, and the remainder of the body comprising long fibers which are permanently resilient under all circumstances normally encountered by the tampon, said long resilient fibers being operative to eifect expansion of said body when wetted and shifting of said shorter fibers relative to each other to increase the sizes of said interstices, thereby to enlarge the absorbing capacity of the tampon.

11. A vaginal tampon comprising an absorbent body of fibrous material which is compressed to a small size for facilitating insertion of the tampon into the vaginal cavity, said body being stable in compressed, normally dry condition, and when wetted in such cavity, being selfexpanding into conforming engagement with the walls of the cavity, said absorbent body having from about 40% to about of absorbent wood pulp fiber which provides a multiplicity of fluid receiving and holding interstices, and the remainder of the body comprising long fibers which are permanently resilient under all circumstances normally encountered by the tampon, said long resilient fibers being operative to eflect expansion of said body when wetted and shifting of said shorter fibers relative to each other to increase the sizes of said interstices, thereby to enlarge the absorbing capacity of the tampon.

12. A compressed absorbent tampon comprising a body of fibrous material which is substantially stable in compressed, normally dry condition, said body having therein a blend of fibers comprising some which provide a multiplicity of capillary interstices in the body to impart substantial liquid absorbing capacity to said body, and resilient synthetic fibers which serve to effect expansion of the tampon when wetted.

13. A compressed absorbent tampon comprising a body of fibrous material which is substantially stable in compressed, normally dry condition, said body having therein a blend of fibers comprising some which provide a multiplicity of capillary interstices in the body to impart substantial liquid absorbing capacity to said body, and crimped, resilient synthetic fibers which serve to effect expansion of the tampon when wetted.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

